


The Blind Leading the Blind

by last_system_lord



Series: Enemy Amongst Us [4]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, Post-Continuum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 15:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3855106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/last_system_lord/pseuds/last_system_lord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam could just head home and relax, but as she started up her car and drove away, she knew that wasn’t where she was going.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Blind Leading the Blind

It had been a terrible mission. Objectively, Sam knew that just because the most obvious threats were gone, it didn’t make the galaxy a safe place, but it still depressed her when they managed to plunge straight into the middle of a civil war. Dust, debris and blood had been the order of the day and it had left her with the need to just get away from it all, to let its effects roll off her. Sometimes, that was just how the military was. Not that that knowledge made it any easier.

But then, it wasn’t supposed to.

Daniel gave her a quick wave as she left the mountain, his body language telling her he was about as thrilled as she was. Sam felt a slight twinge of guilt; maybe she should stay with her team, but then she shook it off. They probably needed to get away too.

Sam knew she could just head home and relax, but as she started up her car and drove away, she knew that wasn’t where she was going.

_________________________________________

She arrived at his apartment and hit the buzzer impatiently. At first, there was no response and Sam wondered briefly what she would do if he wasn’t in. Turn tail and run probably; pretend that she’d never been there.

The doubt returned. What the hell was she doing?

Then the door swung abruptly open and Ba’al grabbed a handful of her shirt and yanked her inside, slamming the door again behind them.

‘Good. You must help me.’

Letting go of her before Sam could overcome her surprise, Ba’al stalked off and around a corner.

‘Ok-ay.’ Sam stared after him for a second, thoroughly confused and more than a bit concerned.

The apartment wasn’t big and Sam caught up to him again in the kitchen, which was… well, there was no two ways about it. The kitchen was a mess, and Ba’al, standing in the middle in his formal suit, looked ridiculously out of place.

‘Well?’ he demanded, sweeping an arm out in a gesture that encompassed the whole kitchen.

Sam tracked the movement, taking in the pan boiling on the gas stove and the oven, which was turned on but didn’t seem to have anything in it.

‘Are you _cooking_?’ she blurted out in amazement.

Ba’al frowned at the oven. ‘That _was_ the idea.’

‘You,’ Sam managed. ‘Are cooking? You?’ A thought struck her and Sam felt a broad smile creep over her face. ‘You can’t afford to go to restaurants every night.’

That earned her a scowl. ‘I will not ask again.’

Ask? He’d ask her to _help_ him. Jesus Christ, did _Ba’al_ want her to teach him how to cook?

Whether it was the tension of her day, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, Sam wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t help herself, she burst out laughing. ‘Sorry, I can’t cook.’

Ba’al stared at her. ‘Why not?’

‘I just…’ Sam shrugged, still smiling, ‘never did. But it looks like you have a recipe book, right? How hard can it be?’

Famous last words as it turned out. If Sam had thought she was a lousy cook, Ba’al was hopeless, and they ended up with somethings overcooked, while others were still cooking and then there was a whole chopping board of ingredients behind her that hadn’t made it near a pan yet.

Ba’al cursed in Goa’uld at the chopping board and Sam saw him standing there holding a knife and a carrot.

‘This,’ Ba’al proclaimed, jabbing the knife first at the un-chopped carrot and then at one of the saucepans, ‘Was supposed to be in _there_.’

Dodging the knife, Sam plucked the carrot from his hand and stared at the pan. ‘Really?’

‘ _Yes._ ’ To Sam’s relief, Ba’al put down the knife. ‘This is impossible. No wonder so many of you live off those strange packaged meals, I knew it couldn’t be the taste.’

‘We’ve started now,’ said Sam because she was _not_ going to be defeated by a recipe book. ‘We should at least _try_ to finish it.’

‘I am open to suggestions.’

‘I’ve got it!’ Sam snapped her fingers. ‘A casserole.’

‘A casserole.’ Ba’al stroked his chin thoughtfully.

‘Yeah.’ Sam was warming to the idea. ‘We can just stick it all in the casserole dish, put the dish in the oven and we’re done.’

‘Excellent,’ Ba’al said, and Sam could swear she detected a note of relief in his voice. ‘A casserole it shall be.’

____________________________________________________

Sam stood beside him and regarded the casserole doubtfully. It _looked_ enough like a casserole, but she had no doubt parts were seriously overcooked, some of the vegetables could well be close to liquids given their cooking time. Plus… she’d been distracted cooking, but Sam had a stomach full of nerves at the idea of sitting down and having a meal with him.

‘Food fit for a God,’ Ba’al remarked solemnly.

Her head snapped around to look at him and Ba’al grinned.

Sam hid her answering smile. ‘Don’t speak too soon.’

‘You’re right.’ Ba’al started dishing it out onto two plates. ‘We have yet to survive it.’

It was not until Sam was actually sat opposite him that she realised what it looked like. At least there were no candles. Sam stuffed a mouthful of casserole into her mouth to hide her sudden hesitation. The unexpected role of chef really had thoroughly distracted her; it wiped the obvious questions from her mind. Why had she even come here? What did she think she was doing?

Somehow, she’d managed to forget the danger and that wasn’t acceptable. Ba’al used words as weapons and Sam was scared she was letting herself be taken in. She was way past the point where she could report him to the SGC and keep her career intact. If she was totally honest, she’d been past that point months ago.

Was that really a reason to make things worse for herself? She’d just turned up at the apartment of the last Goa’uld System Lord with no good reason and he hadn’t even questioned it.

Keeping an eye on him was one thing, but this… Sam decided she needed an escape route: as quickly as possible.

Ba’al looked up from his meal and smirked. ‘It appears to be edible.’

‘Mostly,’ Sam allowed. ‘But I’m pretty full and I think it’s time I left.’

Not very subtle maybe, but Sam didn’t really care.

Ba’al raised his eyebrows. ‘But Samantha, you haven’t even said why you’re here.'

Sam rolled her eyes and went for the easiest explanation; maybe once she said it out loud she’d even believe it herself. ‘I told you I was keeping an eye on you and since there doesn’t seem to be a cloning lab in your apartment…’

‘Please,’ Ba’al scoffed. ‘Like I would keep any of my cloning laboratories in such an inadequate space.’

Sam froze and Ba’al started to laugh.

‘That’s not funny.’ Sam scowled at him, but still… ‘If I find out you are cloning yourself, so help me-’

‘I assure you, I have finished with cloning myself. It is no longer useful to have multiple versions of myself around, particularly not on your planet.’

‘Great,’ Sam stood up abruptly from her chair. ‘I’m going and remember, no hatching evil plans, or I’ll have to turn you in.’

Ba’al set down his fork and Sam didn’t like the look in his eye, maybe adding the last threat hadn’t been a good move. ‘And I suppose your friends would be delighted to learn that you knew I was here, for… how many months has it been?’

Sam would have bet he knew _exactly_ how long it had been. ‘My career,’ she ground out. ‘Is not as important as the safety of this planet, this _galaxy_ , in fact.’

‘The galaxy? I’m flattered.’

‘I’m leaving,’ said Sam flatly and stalked off towards the door, fuming. How dare he try and trap her into keeping his secret! Did he honestly think she would sit back and watch him if he so much as made a single suspicious move? She was close to marching straight back to the SGC and handing him in, like she should have done already.

A hand on her arm stopped her before she could reach the door.

‘Let go.’ Sam kept her voice as calm as possible. Trapping herself alone with a _System Lord_! How could she have been so _stupid_? Years of training and years of experience in the SGC and she’d still allowed this to happen.

‘Why Samantha, are you frightened of me?’ His tone was curious, not threatening, but it didn’t help to calm her nerves.

‘Can’t imagine why I would be.’ Sam glared at him and then sent a pointed look at his grip on her arm.

‘You didn’t appear to be earlier.’

Earlier. When she’d been cooking with him, of all things. ‘I’m keeping an eye on you Ba’al, not socialising.’

Ba’al sighed and let go. ‘I will not hurt you, Samantha.’

Sam stepped neatly out of reach. ‘I’m sensing an ‘unless’, in their somewhere.’

‘Then your senses are wrong.’ Ba’al’s gaze bored into her. ‘I am not here to endanger you or your planet, I am here because there is nowhere else in the galaxy I can be certain I’ll go unrecognised. And admittedly Earth does have its charms.’

‘Unrecognised,’ Sam repeated, resisting the urge to back further away from him. He was lying. Ba’al was always lying and yet she’d been taken in. ‘Funny how you showed yourself to me, then.’

‘I told you.’ Ba’al sounded mildly frustrated. ‘I was bored. How many more times must I explain myself to you?’

‘Until you start telling me the truth,’ Sam snapped and something must have told him she was being serious because he stepped closer to her again and Sam could see the annoyance flaming in his eyes.

‘What is it you imagine I’m doing?’ Ba’al demanded. ‘I have _nothing_ , you Tau’ri worked very hard to achieve that. You accuse me of wishing to destroy your planet, but I am _on_ your planet and I have no means of escape.’

Sam stood her ground, determined not to flinch away. Ba’al had the poise and demeanour he’d developed from centuries of command, but she _would not flinch_.

‘You damn right we worked hard,’ Sam snarled back. ‘We destroyed your empire, we killed your clones; I have watched you die more times than I can count. Don’t even _imagine_ that I would hesitate to kill you again.’

‘Oh but hesitate you have.’ Ba’al was well within her personal space, his angry gaze locked on hers. ‘I know how you Tau’ri work. It would now cost you _everything_ if you tried any such thing.’

Fury laced through her. ‘I’ll see you at the Tok’ra.’

Sam whirled around, slamming the door in his face and stalked down to street level, her hands shaking. Any moment she would feel a bullet, or a knife, strike her back, any attempt to stop her from revealing his presence. Miraculously, Sam made it to her car and she fumbled to lock the doors before sitting there, stunned.

Leaning forward, Sam rested her head on the steering wheel and took deep breathes. For a moment there she’d honestly thought she’d pushed him too far.

She hadn’t meant to threaten him. Hadn’t even known why she’d gone there. But it felt like her last chance to back out of the deal she’d gradually struck with him, she could go through with her threat, see him die for the last time, or…

…or she could finally commit to hiding the last of Goa’uld System Lords.


End file.
